UN Panel to oversee Kuwait’s reparation after Iraq pays $52.4 bn

The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), the UN panel set up in 1991 to manage financial compensation owed by Iraq to Kuwait, has submitted its final reports Wednesday in Geneva after Iraq paid $52.4 billion reparation to the Gulf country.

The UN in a statement said around 1.5 million successful claims were awarded, out of a total of around 2.7 million lodged with the Commission. If all the claims had been found legitimate, that would have meant a total pay-out of $352.5 billion.

Iraq according made the final payment on January 13. “The $52.4 billion that has gone to successful plaintiffs, was paid out from the UN Compensation Fund, which received a percentage of the proceeds generated over the years by the export sales of Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products,” the UN said in a statement.

Saddam Hussein, former and late Iraqi President, ordered his troops to invade Kuwait and seize what he described as “Iraq’s 19th province” on August 2, 1990, before being pushed back seven months later by a US-led coalition.

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